David Fielding and Brad Wheeler
Globe and Mail Update Published on=20 Monday, Aug. 23, 2010 8:51AM EDT Last = updated on=20 Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010 2:19AM EDT
It=E2=80=99s only rock = =E2=80=99n=E2=80=99 roll. (But we like it.)=20
Let the suits moan over the death of the recording industry. The = Canadian=20 companies that manufacture music equipment and gear know that great = tunes are=20 meant to be played live (and loud). For them, success means always being = on=20 tour.
LOS CABOS DRUMSTICKS
Fredericton
Five years ago, when Larry Guay and his wife Gillian were drumming up = support=20 for their fledgling drumstick company, they loaded up the family van and = hit the=20 open road. They drove across the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario, visiting = every=20 music store they could find (flying to those further west), and politely = asked=20 if the retailers would consider stocking their line of super-durable = hickory and=20 maple drumsticks. The gambit paid off. Los Cabos has since outgrown two=20 manufacturing facilities, settling into a 6,000-square-foot facility = near=20 Fredericton that=E2=80=99s capable of spinning out 1,800 drumsticks a = day=E2=80=94not a lot for=20 Colonel Sanders, but a decent run for three back-knife lathes and five=20 employees. That=E2=80=99s enough for the company to turn an eye toward = international=20 expansion, but the former furniture maker says he=E2=80=99ll always have = a soft spot for=20 his home market. =E2=80=9CCanadian music retailers really support = Canadian=20 manufacturers,=E2=80=9D says Larry Guay. =E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s like a = breath of fresh air coming from=20 furniture.=E2=80=9D
LEVY=E2=80=99S LEATHERS
Winnipeg
Levy=E2=80=99s may be the only company looking to endear itself to = the=20 bullet-shooting balladeers of the world. Founded in Antigonish, Nova = Scotia, in=20 1973, the company manufactures everything from rifle slings and knife = sheathes=20 to instrument bags and guitar straps. But it=E2=80=99s the latter = product line for which=20 Levy=E2=80=99s has become world-famous. =E2=80=9CWe view ourselves as = the largest and the best=20 manufacturer of leather guitar gear,=E2=80=9D says Harvey Levy, who has = worked at the=20 company his brother Denis founded for more than 30 years. Back then, the = Levys=20 operated a small storefront, punching out handcrafted leather belts, = hats,=20 watchbands and purses. Today, with a 16,000-square-foot facility in = Winnipeg (a=20 giant, musically themed mural wraps three sides of the building), and = another in=20 Antigonish, 150 employees produce 350 styles of guitar = straps=E2=80=94and not just=20 leather ones=E2=80=94shipping them to 75 countries worldwide. From = classic tooled=20 leather slings to neon green faux fur, Levy=E2=80=99s built its business = hoisting axes.=20
RADIAL ENGINEERING
Vancouver
The techs behind rock =E2=80=99n=E2=80=99 roll=E2=80=99s biggest acts = know it takes more than a=20 flannel shirt and a vintage Telecaster to blow the roof off a stadium. = You also=20 need some very big amps. And co-ordinating all that power requires an = arsenal of=20 audio switches, direct boxes, signal splitters and pedals=E2=80=94all of = which Radial=20 Engineering builds and ships worldwide. This is why Peter = Janis=E2=80=99s phone is=20 always ringing (these days, it=E2=80=99s Herbie Hancock, Tom Petty, Joe = Cocker and even=20 Slayer) with requests for more gear. =E2=80=9CTen years ago, I=E2=80=99d = have jumped up and down=20 if Herbie Hancock had phoned me up,=E2=80=9D says the 52-year-old = founder. =E2=80=9CToday, I=20 have to put him on hold.=E2=80=9D A former product director for Fender = guitars, Janis=20 founded Radial in 1992, producing guitar-effects pedals (those of you = who own a=20 Metallica album may recognize the company=E2=80=99s Tonebone = distortion). But it=E2=80=99s the=20 unsung direct input box, a device that minimizes distortion and signal = noise=20 when connecting to PA systems and recording equipment, that made Radial = what it=20 is today=E2=80=94a company coming dangerously close to $10 million in = annual sales. Even=20 so, Janis still gets his biggest thrill talking about the music. = =E2=80=9CWe all have=20 aspirations to be rock stars,=E2=80=9D he says.
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GODIN GUITARS
Princeville, Quebec
=E2=80=9CWe=E2=80=99re one of the only companies that still cuts = logs,=E2=80=9D says Robert Godin,=20 explaining why the Eastern Townships of Quebec have been such an ideal = place to=20 build guitars. Of the 125-plus models of electric and acoustic guitars = the=20 company manufactures=E2=80=94they=E2=80=99re sold under seven different = brands=E2=80=94many will begin=20 in the forests of cedar and spruce that carpet the province. Not that=20 Princeville houses Godin=E2=80=99s only factory. The company has nearly = 600 employees=20 spread over five facilities in Quebec and one in New Hampshire. Godin, = who built=20 his first guitar in 1972, says smaller factories provide a more intimate = setting. But perhaps just as important, it allows the company to tightly = monitor=20 costs. =E2=80=9CSome guitars, we barely make $10,=E2=80=9D admits the = 62-year-old luthier. And=20 while the elder Godin still designs the majority of the guitars, most of = the=20 day-to-day operations now fall to his two sons, Simon and Patrick (for = whom he=20 named a line of acoustics). Under their guidance, the company has grown = to=20 nearly $40 million in annual sales. =E2=80=9CI have little function = these days,=E2=80=9D admits=20 Godin, =E2=80=9Cexcept that I=E2=80=99m everywhere.=E2=80=9D
SABIAN CYMBALS
Meductic, New Brunswick
Before this cymbal can be smashed at the climax of a blistering drum = solo,=20 Charlie Brown will hammer it upward of 2,500 times. Wherever the mallet=20 connects, the bronze compresses, becoming thinner, denser and harder. = It=E2=80=99s what=20 gives Sabian cymbals their unmatchable depth. The company has been = producing=20 cymbals this way since 1981, but the history goes back much further. = Founder=20 Robert Zildjian is a scion of the great Zildjian family, which began = crafting=20 cymbals in Istanbul during the Ottoman Empire. A legal dispute led him = to set up=20 Sabian (named for his children, Sally, Bill and Andy) in New Brunswick. = =E2=80=9CWe=20 quickly realized there are no other cymbal makers in Canada,=E2=80=9D = says Nort=20 Hargrove, Sabian=E2=80=99s VP of manufacturing. Sabian currently ships = more than 900,000=20 high-hats, crashes, rides and other cymbals around the world each year. = Rush=E2=80=99s=20 Neil Peart consults on designs. But even he isn=E2=80=99t granted access = to the room=20 where Sabian=E2=80=99s signature B20 bronze is forged. For all the = firm=E2=80=99s success, its=20 process for making cymbals remains secretive and complex. =E2=80=9CIf it = were easy,=E2=80=9D=20 says Hargrove, =E2=80=9Cthere would be more cymbal makers.=E2=80=9D
YORKVILLE SOUND
Toronto
In the early days of rock =E2=80=99n=E2=80=99 roll, bass amplifiers = were harder to find than=20 the hair on Bill Haley=E2=80=99s head. Taking advantage of the scarcity, = Yorkville=20 Sound=E2=80=94in particular, a repairman by the name of Pete = Traynor=E2=80=94began assembling=20 amps out of the back room of Toronto=E2=80=99s Long & McQuade music = shop in 1963.=20 From that original run of four, the Traynor line of guitar amps was = born. In=20 their day, everyone from Chuck Berry to John Lennon plugged into one of=20 Traynor=E2=80=99s amps. Today, Yorkville Sound pumps out the jams from a = custom-designed=20 150,000-square-foot plant just east of Toronto. Its specialty: = retro-inspired=20 custom valve amps that provide the warm, clean tones that only a set of = vacuum=20 tubes can deliver. Touring acts like Blue Rodeo and Hedley appreciate = the sound=20 but also the fact that the amps have been built to last. =E2=80=9CThe = graveyard is=20 filled with all of our competitors,=E2=80=9D says Doug Davies, = Yorkville=E2=80=99s VP of sales.=20 =E2=80=9CThere=E2=80=99s nobody who has out-survived us as an = independent company.=E2=80=9D
DADDY MOJO
Montreal
In 2006, when Lenny Piroth-Robert began selling the cigar box guitars = he had=20 been building for friends, he would pick up the tobacco boxes (which = form the=20 resonating chamber of the instrument) from local smoke shops. These = days, he has=20 the mahogany and cedar boxes custom-made in the Dominican Republic. = It=E2=80=99s a=20 testament to his success that what could easily be tossed off as a = curiosity=E2=80=94the=20 traditionally four-stringed strummers were once a staple of 19th-century = jug=20 bands=E2=80=94has become a favourite of such cult rock heroes as = Wilco=E2=80=99s Nels Cline and=20 Broken Social Scene=E2=80=99s Andrew Whiteman (pictured left). With the = help of three=20 part-time craftspeople, Piroth-Robert builds a few hundred of the bluesy = little=20 instruments each year, selling two-thirds of them internationally. The = guitars=20 vary in sophistication and price (from $285 to $1,400), more so now that = Daddy=20 Mojo has moved into custom work. =E2=80=9CThe high-end models are a lot = more fun to=20 make,=E2=80=9D says Piroth-Robert, noting the Moroccan-inspired guitar = he recently=20 designed for Whiteman. Presumably, they=E2=80=99re equally fun to play. =
Originally published in the September, 2010 issue of Your Business = magazine.
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